FROM APRIL 20 TO MAY 20
PEACE TREATY HANDED TO GERMANY
The German peace delegates arrived in Paris on April 29, and on May 1, in a brief ceremony, exchanged credentials with representatives of the Allied Powers. On May 7, the anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, the peace treaty was handed to the German plenipotentiaries in the great hall of the Trianon Palace Hotel at Versailles. Six leaders of the German delegation were present, with eight secretaries and interpreters, and they were met by representatives of the 22 states which had declared war on Germany.
Premier Clemenceau in his opening speech stated that all observations made by the German delegation must be in writing, that there would be no oral discussion, and that the limit of time for consideration of the terms would be two weeks (until May 22). This limit was later made May 29.
In his reply, spoken in German, Count Von Brockendorff-Rantzau admitted the defeat and powerlessness of Germany, but denied that she alone was responsible for the war. He referred to "hundreds of thousands of non-combatants who have perished since November 11 by reason of the blockade," and insisted on a peace in accordance with President Wilson's fourteen points.
MAIN TERMS OF PEACE TREATY.-A full official summary of the Peace Treaty was issued on May 7 and appeared in the American press on May 8. The parts relating to the League of Nations are given elsewhere in the Notes. A briefer summary follows:
It is the longest treaty ever drawn. It totals about 80,000 words, is divided into fifteen main sections, and represents the combined product of over a thousand experts working continually through a series of commissions for three and a half months, since January 18. The treaty is printed in parallel pages of English and French, which are recognized as having equal validity. It does not deal with questions affecting Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey, except in so far as binding Germany to accept any agreement reached with those former allies.
Following the preamble and deposition of powers come the covenant of the League of Nations as the first section of the treaty. The frontiers of Germany in Europe are defined in the second section. European political clauses are given in the third, and extra-European political classes in the fourth. Next are the military, naval, and air terms as the fifth section, followed by a section on prisoners of war and military graves, and a seventh on responsibilities. Reparations, financial terms, and economic terms are covered in Sections VIII to X. Then comes the aeronautic section, ports, waterways, and railways section, the labor covenant, the section on guarantees, and the financial clauses.
Germany by the terms of the treaty restores Alsace-Lorraine to France, accepts the internationalization of the Sarre Basin temporarily and of Danzig permanently, agrees to territorial changes toward Belgium and Denmark and in East Prussia, cedes most of Upper Silesia to Poland, and renounces all territorial and political rights outside of Europe, as to her own or her allies' territories, and especially to Morocco, Egypt, Siam, Liberia, and Shantung. She also recognizes the total independence of German Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.
Her army is reduced to 100,000 men, including officers; conscription within her territories is abolished; all forts to fifty kilometers east of the Rhine are razed, and all importation, exportation, and nearly all production of war material stopped. Allied occupation of parts of Germany will continue till reparation is made, but will be reduced at the end of each of three five-year periods if Germany is fulfilling her obligations. Any violation by Germany of the conditions as to the zone 50 kilometers east of the Rhine will be regarded as an act of war.
The German Navy is reduced to six battleships, six light cruisers, and twelve torpedo boats, without submarines, and a personnel of not over 15,000. All other vessels must be surrendered or destroyed. Germany is forbidden to build forts controlling the Baltic, must demolish Heligoland, open the Kiel Canal to all nations, and surrender her 14 submarine cables. She may have no military or naval air forces except 100 unarmed seaplanes until October 1 to detect mines, and may manufacture aviation material for six months.
Germany accepts full responsibility for all damages caused to the allied and associated governments and nationals, agrees specifically to reimburse all civilian damages, beginning with an initial payment of 20,000,000,000 marks (about $5,000,000,000 at pre-war reckoning), subsequent payments to be secured by bonds to be issued at the discretion of the Reparation Commission. Germany is to pay shipping damage on a ton-for-ton basis by cession of a large part of her merchant, coasting, and river fleets, and by new construction; and to devote her economic resources to the rebuilding of the devastated regions.
She agrees to return to the 1914 most-favored nation tariffs, without discrimination of any sort; to allow allied and associated nationals freedom of transit through her territories, and to accept highly detailed provisions as to pre-war debts, unfair competition, internationalization of roads and rivers, and other economic and financial clauses. She also agrees to the trial of the ex-Kaiser by an international high court for a supreme offense against international morality, and of other nationals for violation of the laws and customs of war, Holland to be asked to extradite the former and Germany being responsible for delivering the latter.
Germany is required to deliver manuscripts and prints equivalent in value to those destroyed in the Louvain Library. She must also return works of church art removed from Belgium to Germany.
The League of Nations is accepted by the allied and associated powers as operative, and by Germany, in principle, but without membership. Similarly, an international labor body is brought into being with a permanent office and an annual convention. A great number of international bodies of different kinds and for different purposes are created, some under the League of Nations, some to execute the Peace Treaty; among the former is the Commission to Govern the Sarre Basin till a plebiscite is held, 15 years hence; the High Commissioner of Danzig, which is created into a free city under the League, and various commissions for plebiscites in Malmedy, Schleswig, and East Prussia. Among those to carry out the Peace Treaty are the Reparations, Military, Naval, Air, Financial, and Economic Commissions, the International High Court and Military Tribunals to Fix Responsibilities, and a series of bodies for the control of international rivers.
Certain problems are left for solution between the allied and associated powers, notably the details of the disposition of the German fleet and cables, the former German colonies, and the values paid in reparation. Certain other problems, such as the laws of the air and the opium, arms, and liquor traffic, are either agreed to in detail or set for early international action.—N. Y. Times, 8/5.
GERMANY'S LOST TERRITORY.—It is estimated that the Peace Treaty will deprive Germany of 1,075,607 square miles of territory (47,787 in Europe) and 15,000,000 people (12,041,603 natives in former colonial possessions). A table of territorial losses follows:
GERMAN NOTES AND PROTESTS.—In the period of two weeks pending action on the Peace Treaty, the German delegates presented a number of long notes and protests. The Allies appointed 13 committees to consider and reply to these proposals, the members, however, including none of the "Council of Four," who turned their attention to the Austrian peace terms. The protests presented by Germany included the following:
(1) Note on repatriation of prisoners, submitted May 11, expressing satisfaction that the Allied Powers recognized in principle the repatriation of German prisoners without delay, and proposing that details be taken up at once by joint commissions.
(2) Note on international labor legislation, submitted May 11, proposing a conference at Versailles of representatives of trade unions of all the contracting powers, the proceedings to be based on the proposals of the International Trade Union Conference held at Berne in February. In a reply dated May 14, M. Clemenceau conveyed the opinion of the Allied and Associated Powers to the effect that labor legislation was sufficiently provided for in Part XIII of the Peace Treaty which created an international labor organization, the first session of which would be held in Washington, in October, 1919.
(3) Note on economic terms, declaring that 15,000,000 people in Germany were dependent on foreign trade and foreign raw materials, that Germany could not support more than 40,000,000 on her own resources, and that the terms of treaty would mean economic ruin and starvation.
(4) Note on territorial questions, admitting the principle of self-determination in certain instances, but objecting to the sacrifice of territory populated by Germans, and particularly against the Sarre Valley arrangement, the transfer of territory to Belgium, and the evacuation of part of Schleswig.
(5) Note on reparations, assenting to payment but not because of responsibility for the war.
(6) A note submitting a German Plan for a league of nations, differing from the Allied plan chiefly in that it provided for the immediate inclusion of all belligerents. This plan was submitted to the Committee on a League of Nations, which found its merits sufficiently paralleled in the plan already incorporated in the Peace Treaty.
OPPOSITION TO TREATY IN GERMANY.—Following the announcement of peace terms, a week of mourning was officially decreed in Germany, the purpose of which was at least in part to lend support to the protests of the German delegates. President Ebert on May 11 declared the treaty a "monstrous document" and that Germany's hopes of America had proved vain. Chancellor Scheidemann in the National Assembly on May 12 pronounced the terms "unacceptable," finding one hundred clauses beginning with "Germany renounces." The Independent Socialists, on the other hand, insisted that the terms should be accepted and peace declared, though their leader, Hugo Haase, refused to form a government to assume responsibility for signing the treaty.
TREATY VALID WHEN THREE ALLIED POWERS RATIFY.—Paris, May 16.—The German peace treaty, it developed to-day, contains a clause, which has not yet been made public, providing that ratification by Germany and three of the principal associated powers will bring the treaty in force between the ratifying parties, enabling the immediate resumption of trade.
It was pointed out in connection with this stipulation that any nation which withheld ratification after three of the principal powers had ratified would be at a disadvantage in a commercial way, from the fact that the ratifying powers would be able to resume trade relations with Germany at once, while the states which delayed would have no such privilege.—N. Y. Times, 17/5.
FRENCH TO SUPPLY ARMY OF OCCUPATION.—Paris, May 8.—Neither the United States nor Great Britain will maintain any part of the armies of occupation which by the terms of the treaty will remain on the Rhine for at least 15 years. The occupation of the left bank of the Rhine will be effected by French and Belgian troops, the great majority, of course, being French. These two nations receive practically all of the indemnity for the collection of which allied troops are to be retained on German territory. It was not the wish of Marshal Foch and the French peace delegation that this arrangement be made.
PROPOSED AMERICAN UNDERSTANDING WITH FRANCE
On May 8 the following official statement was issued at Paris:
"In addition to the securities afforded in the treaty of peace, the President of the United States has pledged himself to propose to the Senate of the United States, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain has pledged himself to propose to the Parliament of Great Britain, an engagement, subject to the approval of the Council of the League of Nations, to come immediately to the assistance of France in case of unprovoked attack by Germany."
It was later reported that this pledge on the part of the President of the United States was embodied in a letter to Premier Clemenceau, and that the proposal would be presented to the Senate in a form suggesting a defensive alliance.
REVISED LEAGUE OF NATIONS COVENANT HEADS PEACE TREATY
The revised covenant of the League of Nations was adopted at a plenary session of the Peace Conference on April 28 without division and without amendments, and is given first place as Section I in the peace treaty.
The document as it there appears (for original see U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE PROCEEDINGS, March, 1919) is outlined as follows in the official summary:
SECTION 1.—League of Nations.—The covenant of the League of Nations constitutes Section 1 of the peace treaty, which places upon the League many specific, in addition to its general, duties. It may question Germany at any time for a violation of the neutralized zone east of the Rhine as a threat against the world's peace. It will appoint three of the five members of the Sarre Commission, oversee its regime, and carry out the plebiscite. It will appoint the High Commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of the free city, and arrange for treaties between Danzig and Germay and Poland. It will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the former German colonies, and act as a final court in part of the plebiscites of the Belgian-German frontier, and in disputes as to the Kiel Canal, and decide certain of the economic and financial problems. An International Conference on Labor is to be held in October under its direction, and another on the international control of ports, waterways, and railways is foreshadowed.
Membership.—The members of the League will be the signatories of the covenant and other states invited to accede who must lodge a declaration of accession without reservation within two months. A new state, dominion, or colony may be admitted, provided its admission is agreed by two-thirds of the assembly. A state may withdraw upon giving two years' notice, if it has fulfilled all its international obligations.
Secretariat.—A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the League, which will be at Geneva.
Assembly.—The Assembly will consist of representatives of the members of the League, and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will be by states. Each member will have one vote and not more than three representatives.
Council.—The Council will consist of representatives of the Five Great Allied Powers, together with representatives of four members selected by the Assembly from time to time; it may co-opt additional states and will meet at least once a year. Members not represented will be invited to send a representative when questions affecting their interests are discussed. Voting will be by states. Each state will have one vote and not more than one representative. A decision taken by the Assembly and Council must be unanimous except in regard to procedure, and in certain cases specified in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will be by a majority.
Armaments.—The Council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every ten years. Once they are adopted, no member must exceed the armaments fixed without the concurrence of the Council. All members will exchange full information as to armaments and programs, and a permanent commission will advise the Council on military and naval questions.
Preventing of War.—Upon any war, or threat of war, the Council will meet to consider what common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of dispute to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three months after the award. Members agree to carry out the arbitral award and not to go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with it. If a member fails to carry out the award, the Council will propose the necessary measures. The Council will formulate plans for the establishment of a permanent court of international justice to determine international disputes or to give advisory opinions. Members who do not submit their case to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction of the Assembly. If the Council, less the parties to the dispute, is unanimously agreed upon the rights of it, the members agree that they will not go to war with any party to the dispute which complies with its recommendations. In this case, a recommendation, by the Assembly, concurred in by all its members represented on the Council and a simple majority of the rest, less the parties to the dispute, will have the force of a unanimous recommendation by the Council. In either case, if the necessary agreement cannot be secured, the members reserve the right to take such [action?] as may be necessary for the maintenance of right and justice. Members resorting to war in disregard of the covenant will immediately be debarred from all intercourse with other members. The Council will in such cases consider what military or naval action can be taken by the League collectively for the protection of the covenants and will afford facilities to members co-operating in this enterprise.
Validity of Treaties.—All treaties or international engagements concluded after the institution of the League will be registered with the secretariat and published. The Assembly may from time to time advise members to reconsider treaties which have become inapplicable, or involve danger to peace. The covenant abrogates all obligations between members inconsistent with its terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity of international engagements such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings like the Monroe Doctrine for securing the maintenance of peace.
The Mandatory System.—The tutelage of nations not yet able to stand by themselves will be intrusted to advanced nations who are best fitted to undertake it. The covenant recognizes three different stages of development requiring different kinds of mandatories
(a) Communities like those belonging to the Turkish Empire, which can be provisionally recognized as independent, subject to advice and assistance for a mandatory in whose selection they would be allowed a voice.
(b) Communities like those of Central Africa, to be administered by the mandatory under conditions generally approved by the members of the League, where equal opportunities for trade will be allowed to all members; certain abuses, such as trade in slaves, arms, and liquor will be prohibited, and the construction of military and naval bases and the introduction of compulsory military training will be disallowed.
(c) Other communities, such as Southwest Africa and the South Pacific Islands, but administered under the laws of the mandatory as integral portions of its territory. In every case the mandatory will render an annual report, and the degree of its authority will be defined.
General International Provisions.—Subject to and in accordance with the provisions of international convention, existing or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the League will in general endeavor, through the international organization established by the Labor Convention, to secure and maintain fair conditions of labor for men, women and children in their own countries and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will entrust the League with the general supervision over the execution of agreements for the suppression of traffic in women and children, &c.; and the control of the trade in arms and ammunition with countries in which control is necessary; they will make provision for freedom of communication and transit and equitable treatment for commerce of all members of the League, with special reference to the necessities of regions devastated during the war; and they will endeavor to take steps for international prevention and control of disease. International bureaus and commissions already established will be placed under the League, as well as those to be established in the future.
Amendments to the Covenant.—Amendments to the covenant will take effect when ratified by the Council and by a majority of the Assembly.
PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION OF LEAGUE.—The Organization Committee of the League of Nations met in Paris on May 5. M. Pichon, French Foreign Minister, was elected chairman, and Sir Eric Drummond of Great Britain assumed his duties as Acting Secretary General. Representatives of Belgium, Greece, Spain, and Brazil were present, in addition to those of the five chief nations of the Entente.
MANDATORIES NAMED FOR GERMAN COLONIES.—An official communication on May 7 gave the following account of action taken regarding the German colonies:
"The Council of Three—M. Clemenceau, President Wilson and Mr. Lloyd George—yesterday decided as to the disposition of the former German colonies as follows:
"Togoland and Kamerun.—France and Great Britain shall make a joint recommendation to the League of Nations as to their future.
"German East Africa.—The mandate shall be held by Great Britain.
"German Southwest Africa.—The mandate shall be held by the Union of South Africa.
"The German Samoan Islands.—The mandate shall be held by New Zealand.
"The other German Pacific possessions south of the equator, excluding the German Samoan Islands and Nauru.—The mandate shall be held by Australia.
“Mauru (Pleasant Island).—The mandate shall be given to the British Empire.
"The German Pacific islands north of the equator.—The mandate shall be held by Japan."
FIUME QUESTION STILL A DEADLOCK
On April 23, following repeated and vain efforts of the Council of Four to settle Italy's Adriatic claims, President Wilson issued a public statement setting forth his opposition to the cession of Fiume to Italy. In this statement the President showed: (1) that the situation at the time of the secret treaty of London had been completely altered by the entry of new belligerents, the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the armistice terms based on common acceptance of "principles which set up a new order of right and justice"; (2) that if those principles are adhered to, Fiume must serve as an outlet of commerce for the lands to the north and northeast; (3) that Italy no longer is in urgent need of naval protection against Austria-Hungary; and (4) that the concessions offered Italy complete her unity and create no cause for future trouble.
ITALIAN DELEGATES QUIT CONFERENCE.—President Wilson's statement was published with the knowledge of Premiers Lloyd George and Clemenceau, who, while they issued no public statements, supported the position taken by the President. Following the publication, the leaders of the Italian delegation, including Premier Orlando and Foreign Minister Sonnino, returned to Italy on April 24. Italian sentiment, which had been stirred to patriotic fervor, gave enthusiastic support to the position taken by the Italian delegates, to such an extent as to make difficult any change of ground. Justifying his withdrawal, Premier Orlando on April 24 issued a long statement declaring that President Wilson had addressed his appeal directly to the Italian people, in contravention of diplomatic usage.
RETURN OF ITALIAN DELEGATES.—In spite of their apparently resolute opposition to any compromise of the Fiume dispute, the Italian leaders returned to Paris on May 7, in time for the presentation of the treaty. They returned at the invitation of the French and British Premiers, who extended it on the ground that Italy was a special ally of their governments through the London agreement.
On May 12 Premier Orlando said, "There is no change in the situation. Both we and the Americans are now established on the lines of last resistance. It is absolutely a deadlock." In the meantime Fiume was occupied by 24,000 Italian troops, and the Fiume council had voted for annexation to Italy.
PEACE NEGOTIATIONS 'WITH AUSTRIA
The Austrian peace delegation arrived at St. Germain-en-Laye, a suburb of Paris where the negotiations with Austria are to take place, on May 14, and exchanged greetings with representatives of the Allied Powers with apparently more cordiality than was shown upon the arrival of the German delegates. The Austrian plenipotentiaries included Karl Renner, Chancellor of the Austrian Republic, Dr. Franz Klein, Peter Eichoff, and Dr. Richard Schuler, with a suite of some sixty members. The exchange of credentials was scheduled for May 21 and the presentation of the Austrian terms for June 2. With regard to boundary settlements on the Italian frontier these terms followed in general the arrangements made in London in 1915 between Italy and the Entente.
An invitation to send delegates to Paris was extended to the Soviet government of Hungary, which however did not accept. The powers negotiating with Austria include only those who declared war upon or broke diplomatic relations with Austria-Hungary.
GERMANY
RED RULE IN MUNICH OVERTHROWN.—The overthrow of the Soviet rule in Munich was finally accomplished on May 1 by forces of the Hoffmann government assisted by troops supplied by the German Republic. About 150 were killed in the fighting, and 5000 arrests were made later, but many of the Soviet leaders, including Dr. Levien, escaped.
RUSSIA
KOLCHAK PLANS ADVANCE ON MOSCOW.—According to an interview with Admiral Kolchak published in the Petit Parisien of May 13, the All-Russian Government at Omsk is planning a move on Moscow during the coming summer, together with the destruction of the Soviet army. Aid from the Allies was requested in the form of supplies, and a more stringent blockade of Soviet Russia. The Admiral renewed his assurance that the National Assembly would be given control upon final victory.
In the meantime the plan to send supplies of food to Russia by means of a neutral commission has been blocked by the refusal of the Lenine Government to accept the terms accompanying the offer.
FINLAND GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZED.—On May 5 the Council of Foreign Ministers at Paris decided to extend recognition to the de facto government of Finland under certain conditions which were not disclosed. Recognition by Great Britain and the United States was officially announced on May 6. Subsequent reports gave information of the advance of a Finnish army towards Petrograd, under the leadership of General Mannerheim, and of a warning to residents of Petrograd issued by the Soviet Government.
FAR EAST
JAPAN RECEIVES CONCESSIONS IN SHANTUNG.—According to the terms of the Peace Treaty, Germany is required to renounce her share of the Boxer indemnity and all her property in the German concessions of Tientsin and Hankow. The summary of the treaty terms relating to Shantung reads:
"Germany cedes to Japan all rights, titles, and privileges, notably as to Kiao-Chau, and the railroads, mines, and cables acquired by her treaty with China of March 6, 1897, by and other agreements as to Shantung. All German rights to the railroad from Tsing-tao to Tsinan-fu, including all facilities and mining rights and rights of exploitation, pass equally to Japan, and the cables from Tsing-tao to Shanghai and Che-foo, the cables free of all charges. All German State property, movable and immovable, in Kiao-Chau is acquired by Japan free of all charges."
SOVEREIGNTY RESTORED TO CHINA.—In a statement issued on May 5, Baron Makino, head of the Japanese delegation at the Peace Conference, declared that Japan had agreed to return full sovereignty to China, retaining only the economic privileges granted Germany and the right to establish a settlement under the usual conditions at Tsing-tao. The railway in the province, which is to become a joint Chino-Japanese undertaking, would be guarded by Japanese police forces only to the extent necessary for security of traffic.
The Chinese delegates at the Peace Conference took the ground that by China's entry into the war, all special agreements made with Japan were canceled, and an entirely new settlement of the question should be attempted. This attitude was supported by the Chinese Parliament, which on April 30 passed a resolution directing the Foreign Office to protest against the proposed transfer to Japan.
It is pointed out by Japan that Germany was driven out of Kiao-Chau almost entirely by Japanese forces, while China was still a neutral, and hindered by protests; and that the proposed settlement is in accordance with Japan's secret agreement with the Allied Powers made in February, 1917.
NEW CONSORTIUM FOR CHINESE LOAN.—A new consortium "for undertaking joint financial, administrative, and industrial loans to the Chinese Government" was organized at Paris on May 12 by American, French, British, and Japanese bankers, Mr. Thomas W. Lamont, of J. P. Morgan & Co., presiding. The meeting was called at the instance of the United States, and is said to have resulted from a proposal of Japan to advance $15,000,000 to China secured by a first lien on the Chinese Government's tobacco monopoly. The amount of the forthcoming loan is put at $100,000,000, in four equal annual installments.
Washington, May I2.—The announcement in Paris to-day of the formation of a new consortium for loaning money to China was confirmed officially here. The old consortium will expire on June 18. Four American banks were originally included in it, but they withdrew because of the adverse policy of the State Department under William J. Bryan. Germany was excluded from the existing consortium by the war. Russia's collapse took that country out, and the strain of the war caused Belgium to retire. Japan was never a member of it.
In the new consortium, 37 American banks will participate, following President Wilson's idea of a more democratic arrangement, whereby a larger number of each country's financial institutions may be represented than was the case with the expiring consortium.
American participation in the consortium results from a new policy adopted by the United States Government with respect to Chinese loans, which in effect is that, if the terms of the loan are just and the conditions fair, the government of the United States will assure the American banks participating, after the matter shall have been submitted to the State Department, that the United States will protect the interests secured in good faith.—N. Y. Times, 13/5.